snap crackle pop noices from iMac 27

Yeah, the engineers at Apple that handled my case, said that the speakers are supposed to warm-up or something of that nature, but I still find that to be a drag. The pops are very noticeable in a quiet room.

Since I was outside of my 14 day warranty, Apple opted to try repair my iMac. First, they swapped out the speakers, which didn't do anything. Next, the replaced the logic board, which also didn't resolve the issue.

As a last resort, they finally sent me a new 27 inch iMac. The new iMac I received does not have a speaker popping issue whatsoever and I've had it for about a couple months now. Knock on wood...

So, this leads me to believe that some units are affected, some aren't. I have no idea where the speaker popping stems from, as they literally tried to repair everything on my last unit, but my new iMac seems unaffected.

As many have reported in this thread, an entirely new machine / replacement seems to be the only solution, unless you are wiling to deal with the speaker popping, which to be fair, doesn't seem to affect performance in any way, aside from the total annoyance factor.

I strongly encourage you to return it an order a new one. Can't believe they're still releasing machines with this issue. I returned the first popping one I had and the replacement has run flawlessly ever since.

I am wondering if I have the same problem, or something else. I just got a brand new 27" 2013 iMac, (3TB Fusion dirve, 32GB RAM 3.5 GHz i7) and it has audio glitches and dropouts, but it's not a speaker problem, it's actual dropouts/glitches in the audio playback. It occurs both for the internal speakers and external ones hooked up via a USB interface. It shows up in iTunes, etc, and Garageband and Logic both have the same problem. In fact, the glitches will reset the play head sometimes during playback and/or recording in those programs. This happens whether using the built-in audio, or an external USB interface, so it's hard to blame it on the integrated sound processor. It really seems like a driver/caching issue with CoreAudio.

All of this gear works perfectly with my MacBook Pro, so it's definitely this iMac. Bummer, since I bought the thing to do music production, among other things.

Does this sound familiar, or is it maybe a similar, unrelated problem? I don't really want to deal with a replacement, it took almost 2 weeks to get the thing in the first place beacuse of the custom config. But I do have AppleCare, and I'm within the 14 days, so if I have to...

I may try booting from a fresh ML install on an external drive and see if that clears it up. I could probably wait for Mavericks and still be within the 14 day return period.

Sounds like a different issue than this thread. My problem was actually not the speakers, I was getting weird popping/static ticks from somewhere in the guts of the system. If it can't get diagnosed within 13 days then I would say replace it... As much of a pain as that is, you paid good cash for a system that shouldn't have that kind of problem.

For what it's worth, I'd say save money on the RAM and buy your own. Several hundred dollars back in your pocket and it's simple to upgrade it yourself.

I've got the same thing here. Just got my new iMac 27" on Monday and now I'm experiencing the snap crackle pop with and without external speakers. My Mac Pro logic board went out three weeks ago and it took two weeks for my new iMac to arrive. I'm very behind in my editing (I'm a commercial photographer) and several projects are seriously overdue with my clients. I can't afford to have anymore downtime waiting for a replacement however, trying to edit video with the sound crapping out on me is terrible, especially on a new machine where so many people are experiencing the same thing. Macs are the new Ford, constantly breaking down when you need them the most.

hi

I justw want to let everybody know that i went through 5 iMacs before receiving a good one.

(no lie) But it is possible to attain a good one (so without skretches on the case dead pixels or snap crackle pop sound.) just be prepared for a long proces before upyou get "the one" mine (5th) iMac 27 inch is after 5/6 months still going strong.. apple should put that on their site. NO QUALITY QUARANTEED(succes rate of 1in5)

gr obi

I will call Apple today about it. I've had it now for almost a week and the sound glitch is not as bad as it was when I first popped it out of the box. I can confirm that the glitch exists with both internal and external speakers... so it's definitely not my external speakers.

I am amazed at the lack of quality control when it comes to this. Sound is just as important as the display and the design aesthetics. I expect more out of Apple... especially for what I paid for this thing. I just hate that I have already loaded Photoshop, moved over a ton of photos and began design work on them plus iTunes and the whole crap you have to through when you sync an iPhone to a new computer. UGH! *** Apple???

I spoke to Applecare today and they put me through the typical hardware troubleshooting - SMC and PRAM reset. I was transferred to a senior representative and tomorrow we're going to walk through rebooting from a fresh OS and see if it's a conflict with existing software. I doubt it is however it's worth a try. If this doesn't work, the next step for me will be to ask for a replacement or I'm considering returning it since I've only had it for two days. I'm not willing to have a two-day-old computer serviced and await the results while I lose clients over this. Obikenobi, did you have to send yours back and wait for a new one each time or were you able to keep your existing one until a new one arrived? I can't afford anymore downtime. Two weeks was already too long.

Hi!

I was able to keep the 4th one till i received the replacement.

So wat I advice you is to ask apple if you can send it back after you receive yours.

But moral of the story is. Apple should give us a macbook for compensation.

I have the same problem I believe.

New late 2013 27" iMac.

3tb fusion drive.

3.5ghz qc.

8gb ram stock.

Updated to mavericks and all updates as of 13/nov/2013.

Still has a single tiny pop on left speaker then on right speaker.

Major problem is my FireWire to thunderbolt attached MOYU Traveler gets audio cut off and I think it's related to thus pop. It seems to be only affecting new late 2013 iMacs with fusion drives and mavericks according to Motu customer support. Apparently apple and Motu plus other audio device manufacturers are looking into it. But looking back to when this thread was started it doesn't look good.

I'm left with new logic x £139.99 a new late 2013 27" iMac £2066+ £25 FireWire to thunderbolt adapter new external HDD and I can't record on my iMac!

I hope this gets fixed soon as it's going back for a refund otherwise.

I finally fixed mine. After several long troubleshooting conversations with Applecare starting with a fresh reboot, I discovered that the problems originated from Google Chrome and GarageBand. To fix the popping originating from Chrome, here's the fix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MitIgs0SB34 And after I upgraded to Mavericks and downloaded the latest version of GarageBand, my speaker problems have completely gone away. Both myself and Applecare were leaning towards a hardware issue and discussed returning my computer. But, troubleshooting it to death I was able to map it to software issues.

I do not have an answer as to why I experienced these problems with software that I migrated from my old setup (2007 MacPro / 500GB / 1GHZ) to my new computer (new 2013 27" iMac / 3TB fusion drive / 3.5GHZ).

I'm glad you fixed your problem.

I gave not hit chrome and the problem occurs where ever I am ...desktop etc.

Might be related but may be a different problem.

Typo...."I have not got chrome"

I had the pop/crackly sound on my Late 2012 iMac when I first got it, but mine stopped after around 6 weeks and during this 6 week period the crackly sound was less and less until eventually it stopped altogether.

I've read many people saying that when the iMac is new, the bonding tape that holds the glass, screen in place, has not properly cured, and the crackling sound is due to a tiny bit of movement on the glass, panel as the iMac gets warm, cools down.

It does sound like speaker static pop.